


Braisé

by whitachi



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Body Horror, Food Porn, Mild Gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-05
Updated: 2013-07-05
Packaged: 2017-12-17 18:20:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/870555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitachi/pseuds/whitachi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Heart is a hard-working muscle that's lean but tender. Braised heart, like any slow-simmered meat preparation, is a blank canvas in terms of seasonings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Braisé

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



"Regardless of the animal, the heart is the strongest muscle in the body."

Will's head hurts, but Will's head always hurts. His eyelids are heavy, like he's taken the instructions of a hypnotist to heart, let droning words and slow counts backwards convince him he has entered a different state of consciousness. Dr. Lecter is not a hypnotist, but he is the one speaking.

"This makes it very similar to steak in terms of preparation and flavor," he says, and Will feels cold along his body, the pricking of air on sweaty skin. "Searing it in a very hot pan can be all you need. A little salt and some butter is all that's really needed. I find an iron skillet to be best. It compliments the taste of the blood in the meat."

Will feels weight and warmth on his hips and he opens his eyes. Dr. Lecter is sitting astride him, dressed in a suit of cardinal red and dove grey and peacock blue. Will only wears a flannel shirt in hunter's plaid, open to show his chest, where a small plate sits atop it. There are four slices of meat upon it, neatly fanned out, edges dark and crisp fading to a red-pink interior. Dr. Lecter picks up a small silver dish from somewhere beside Will's left wrist, and spoons a thick red-brown liquid over the meat, some of it pooling into the edges of the plate. Will isn't hungry.

"Well-cooked meat requires no accoutrements," Dr. Lecter says, and he lifts fork in left hand, tines pointed down, and knife in the other. When he cuts a small slice from the already sliced heart, the weight of the plate pressing into Will's chest makes his lips part. Air comes from him with no sound, and he watches it curl into vapor. Dr. Lecter brings the bite to his lips and chews slowly. Will becomes aware of every muscle on his face, every stretch of tendon that shifts under his skin as he chews. He was once told the amount of pressure the human jaw could create in a bite, but he can't remember it. He sees Dr. Lecter's throat work as he swallows and thinks of how both of them are just long tubes surrounded by skin and meat and bone.

Dr. Lecter smiles with those muscles and tendons and says, "Wine, of course, is an exception." He brings the glass of red to his face and closes his eyes for a moment as he swirls it beneath his nose, then takes a drink. Will's tongue feels tight and dry in his own mouth. Dr. Lecter eats this heart in this fashion, one small piece at a time, one small sip of wine, one breath pushed out of Will's chest. There is no stain on his lips when he is finished and the plate is gone.

"However when it comes to the hearts of game, the meat can often benefit from a longer, more delicate method of cooking," he says. Will feels warmth spread in his chest now, even though his fingers and toes still feel numb and dead. "Venison in particular is well-suited to braising. The gaminess will be reduced and the meat will become much more tender, but no matter how long or how low you cook it in the flavor you wish to bring to it, nothing will fully remove the taste of the wild."

Will feels pain in his chest but it doesn't make him cry out. Dr. Lecter's eyes are focused there, so he lifts his head to look. His chest is open, skin and muscle pulled back so that he can see the edges of his ribcage, but where his sternum should be he sees another white plate. The heart that is on it has not been cut into neat slices, but rather rests in two halves, surrounded by olives and dates and figs. The smell of cinnamon and coriander and blood reaches his nose and his mouth waters.

Dr. Lecter cuts a careful piece from the larger half of the heart and keeps it speared perfectly on his fork. Dr. Lecter leans in over him slowly, careful so that none of Will's blood mars his suit, and brings the fork to Will's lips. Will opens his mouth, takes the heart between his teeth, and chews.

Will wakes up soaked in sweat. He considers retching, but doesn't. He changes his underwear and lies back down in the damp chill of the bed. He counts his heartbeats.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspirational credit goes to [Serious Eats](http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/02/the-nasty-bits-heart.html), who I hope would be both delighted and weirded out.


End file.
